[Ataraxy]

Simply put, you're hiring people to get it done in a specific way. That is their primary purpose and that is likely what they are getting paid for.

They either are not privy to this information or are not interested in doing what they are getting paid to do. It has nothing to do with them being a friend or not.

As for your boss woes, you stated you're capable of documenting why your way is the most plausible path you've been able to identify. If the other guy wants this project done and is a numbers guy he should be able to be reasoned with.

As an aside, if your project only requires templates with minor changes made to them my suggestion is to simply hire 1 developer to create a small script for you that will alter them programatically and your dilemma should be averted.

[Houston]

The reason I brought up the "stripping them of their creativity" point is because I have an aversion to the belief that you must pigeon-hole yourself into a job that is not fun just because you need to make ends meet.

Pretty much everyone around me - friends and family, both - have always told me that I need to go the traditional route of working the blue collar life to achieve success. But, I've never been that type of person. I landed the job I have now by rejecting that belief entirely, and I'm in a position to achieve more success than those same people who hounded me to embrace it and I'm only 19. That being said, it obviously informs me in the business realm. I guess I'd see myself as a hypocrite if on one hand I have this belief that you should do what you love to do and not be forced into a job you hate because you have to make ends meet, or because it is what is expected of you, while on the other hand, I'm forcing the people I hire to do exactly what I reject.

I admit that I may have an immature view on things. I don't know everything, nor do I have any intent to come off as knowing everything. Hence, this thread! I've only been doing this for a couple months, but the nature of the industry I work in requires that I adapt quickly and assume roles that requires more experience than I have currently. To make up for that, I am reaching out to those who know more so they can help inform my ultimate decisions.

I am leaning towards being 100% business-minded, and suppressing my feelings of hypocrisy, because in the end what will matter is that I got the job done and put the infrastructure in place that catapulted the business into greater profitability. Not whether I preserved my life philosophies. Nonetheless, I think a good discussion could arise out of the whole preserve philosophical pureness for the sake of money, or not dilemma.

Anyways, going forward I will for sure write out a report for the partner. It may take me a bit to put together, as I will need to brief him on the history of what exactly we're doing, but I think I can sway him to see my side.

And, I never thought about hiring a dev to create a script to alter the designs programatically. I will definitely look into that. The only thing I see being a problem is how the script would be able to make each change with the proper font and color scheme, unless we developed a library of all possible fonts and color schemes that our designers may use that the script could access to make the changes seamless.